


One Shot Collection

by quantumoddity



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Awkwardness, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, First Dates, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Morning After, One Shot Collection, Pregnancy, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-07 20:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15915765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumoddity/pseuds/quantumoddity
Summary: Very short one scene stories based on prompts sent to me on Tumblr @the-somewhat-mighty-nein for a variety of fandoms





	1. “I can’t get over how a few months ago I wanted to learn your name and now you’re having breakfast with me in my sweater.” (Taakitz)

The morning was quiet; heavy with sun angling through the large windows and the low murmur of the radio and the scents of cinnamon, sugar, coffee, all of it like a blanket across the room. Warm and full, not needing words to say how content they were, Taako and Kravitz lingered at the table even as their empty plates and mugs holding only dregs sat at their elbows. It was like neither of them wanted to break the spell of such a nice morning, like if they left the table and subjected themselves to the busyness of their lives, to all the jobs and duties that were waiting for them beyond the kitchen, they’d never get anything so sweet again.

But Taako had to remind himself, that wasn’t true.

He looked up from his notebook, where he was amending the recipe for his cinnamon apple pancakes to include a chaser of last night’s leftover, stone cold vegetable pizza which he’d also been nibbling on that morning and had found to be a wonderful accompaniment. He looked over at Kravitz who was absorbed in his crossword, biting his bottom lip idly in that way he did, which made Taako wonder what he did what he did in his skeleton form, if a necromancer somehow turned themselves into a Quick Clue Crossword who could only be banished by completing it. The morning sun, rich and heavy like melted butter, washed across his features so the elf didn’t miss a single thing. Not the slight upturn in the left corner of his mouth as he successfully scribbled the right letters in the boxes, not the stray hairs that had escaped the elegant waterfall of his dreadlocks during the night and were now giving him the appearance of a halo around his face as they caught the light, not the lines in the corners of his eyes that he always kept even though he could manipulate his features at will. Not the sweater of Taako’s he was wearing, ridiculously oversized on him which meant it dwarfed the elf whenever he wore it. Which of course, was the point.

Taako realised, mornings this sweet and achingly perfect would come again. Perfect golden mornings and silvered evenings and so many moments that would make his heart beat faster. Last night had changed everything, made so much that had once been smoke and uncertainty into a straight path.

And as much as the inevitability of that made Taako’s skin itch, knowing that moments like this would line that path made him smile.

Kravitz looked up at just that moment, as if the smile had touched some part of him.

He grinned, voice still a little rough at the edge from sleep, “You look happy, darling.”

Taako shrugged lazily, the shoulder of the old shirt he was wearing sliding down to reveal inches of golden, freckled skin, “’Cos I am.”

“You going to tell me why?” Kravitz tilted his head playfully.

“Aint no thing really,” Taako found himself blushing, of all things, tapping his spoon on the table idly, “I just…I can’t get over how a few months ago I wanted to learn your name and now you’re having breakfast with me in my sweater.”

Kravitz snorted, “That’s a really romantic way of saying you called me ‘thug’ and said you were going to do something unspeakable with tentacles.”

“And did I not deliver on that promise?” Taako jabbed the spoon in his direction, “Albeit a few weeks later but still…”

Kravitz’s face flushed considerably in a way that was almost unfairly adorable. Taako reached over and took his hand, running his thumb across his knuckles as the two of them giggled helplessly.

Knowing the rest of his life could be like this, Taako felt more hope than he had in a long time.


	2. “I’ve been trying to get ready for like an hour and a half, because I know you’re going to look so good and I need to try and match up.” (Widomauk)

“Shit shit shit shit shit shit…”

Caleb caught sight of not only the clock on his phone, loudly and unavoidably proclaiming 19:28, but also a text from Mollymauk cheerily informing him that he was on his way. He’d been praying that a guy who forgot the key to his flat so often that he’d mastered the art of climbing up the fire escape and jimmying his bedroom window open would show up at least a _little_ late for their first date. Ten minutes, even fifteen.

Though as Caleb looked around the depressing state of his bedroom, the wardrobe gutted and its contents hanging off the lamp, the book stacks, the bedpost, he realised that even if he had ten days, there was no hope in sight.

In frustration, he aimed a kick at the nearest pile of clothes, sending a painfully boring brown shirt and a pair of maroon cord trousers with holes in the waistband flying reproachfully across the room. He’d tried on everything he’d ever owned, jackets and jumpers and shirts and jeans he didn’t even remember buying. He’d tried every combination, even frantically scribbling schematics and charts on random bits of paper to try and match pants and tops together to see if there were any he’d missed that could, against all odds, make him not look so much like a middle school librarian who’d never laughed in his life.

He shuffled through these notes again, frantic, now stripped right down to his boxers after even his socks started to look weird and boring and plain. At this point, the underwear and his trusty scarf were the sum total of his date outfit, even after a good few hours of agonising. As much as he’d tried to insist to himself that beer and burgers at a bar downtown was a low key, chill kind of date, he didn’t think it was _that_ relaxed.

He’d need pants at the very least.

Caleb was desperate to make a good impression with this date, especially considering how they’d gotten off the ground. He wanted to leave Mollymauk, always elegantly dressed and airily confident, with the idea that he had at least some standards, however small and stunted they might be. He couldn’t help but think of the man he’d become smitten with in the space of five minutes, which had to be some kind of depressing record, and be turned hopelessly slack jawed with awe at how gorgeous he always looked, how he seemed to bend the very notion of fashion to his will and come out looking as quintessentially Mollymauk as anyone could.  

And then he couldn’t help but look at himself and feel his heart drop into his stomach, feeling like this date, as desperately and as wholeheartedly as he wanted it, was a horrible mistake.

Which would make it the first horrible mistake he’d made that day, the second one being not locking his door while he was stood in the middle of the room in just boxer shorts.

The door pushed open carelessly, Nott scampering through and calling brightly, “Your gentleman caller’s here, Caleb, I told him to just come on through…” followed by a very bemused looking Mollymauk.

Of course.

There was a split second of horrified silence before Caleb gave a very undignified yelp and snatched up his blanket from the bed and turning it into a makeshift toga, while his face flamed bright red.

“Nott!” he hissed, wishing to all the gods that he knew some invisibility spells.

“Whoopsie,” Nott bit her lip, making a hasty retreat like she was worried Caleb was going to throw a book at her, “Ah, I’ll let you two…um…sorry!”

Molly watched her bolt off with an arched eyebrow, smiling gently, “It seems so fun at your place. I like it.”

Caleb pawed through those words, looking for any hint of mockery or distaste, still rooted to the spot in embarrassment, “I…I’m so sorry, I was…I was trying to…”

Molly shushed him lightly with a sudden hand on his shoulder, his expression conciliating. His red eyes roved over the scene around them, probably putting the jigsaw together themselves though he simply asked, “What’s going on here?”

It all came out in a helpless rush, Caleb’s hands twitching to cover his face but he tried to say resolute, “I’ve been trying to get ready for like an hour and a half, because I know you’re going to look so good and I need to try and match up, I just wanted to make an effort for you so you wouldn’t think going out with me was one massive mistake…”

The hand on his shoulder squeezed tighter, such a gentle and comforting gesture, not crossing any boundary into discomfort but tender, so much that Caleb stopped dead in the middle of his tirade.

“My dear Caleb,” Molly chuckled, his smile warm and playful, “The fact that you’ve spent so long agonising over making this date perfect proves to me that this was pretty much the best decision I’ve ever made.”

Caleb suddenly found a lump in his throat which he tried to swallow away as best he could, “I…I still don’t know what to wear…”

“Well, welcome to my wheelhouse, sweetheart,” Molly’s eyes lit up and his smile stretched from ear to ear.

 

An hour or so later, Caleb was sat in his warmest, thickest flannel, his comfiest jeans, laughing harder than he had in quite a while as Molly regaled him with Tales from the Community Theatre, their hands joined across the table.

And that didn’t feel like a mistake to him.


	3. "You're hiding under the blanket because you're blushing?" (Widomauk)

Sunrise found Caleb in the same way it often did; awake, on his back, staring up at the ceiling of his and Molly’s bedroom, with his mind racing far too much for so early in the morning. The blankets were rucked up around his hips, fingers twisting in the fabric habitually while his thoughts clamoured for space in the half-darkness even before the rest of the world had woken up.

Though this particular morning, given everything that had happened the night before, no one could really blame him for being a little too wired for sleep.

The test stick was still lying on the edge of their bathroom sink, he guessed, in amongst it all he’d lost track. It was as if neither him nor Molly wanted to look too closely, as if with too much handling it would lose those two little blue lines they’d been so desperately waiting to see for months. The whole idea that they were going to be parents, even after it had been near constantly on Caleb’s mind since the day Molly had taken his hand across the table at the Nook, now it was a reality, it seemed so fragile in his hands. Nothing seemed sure in the early hours of the day, everything was shifting and writhing in the weak, washed out first light sneaking in under the curtains.

The thought gripped him in that deep place inside his chest. What if it had all been a dream, just his mind desperately trying to create what it wanted so badly?

Beside Caleb, Molly gave a soft exhalation as he shifted in his nest of blankets, catching his husband’s wayward attention. Not much of him was visible under all the soft and richly patterned throes and coverlets he insisted he needed, just the tops of the curves of his horns and a few tufts of purple hair over his relaxed eyes, his tail lying limply over the edge of the bed and making a tempting target for Frumpkin to wake him up rather rudely as soon as he got hungry.

Caleb found himself smiling as he propped himself up on one elbow, his legs sliding across Molly’s under the sheets. In the same motion, he hooked them away from his sleeping tiefling’s face, as gently as he could so he didn’t wake him. That always made Molly sour faced until he was presented with breakfast.

He felt his heart slow and his muscles unwind as he huffed fondly over how Molly’s tongue poked out of his mouth a little, how his hands were tucked right up under his chin in the most adorable way. He knew his husband’s face so well, he’d been treasuring it in his own quiet way for years now and he could see something different in it this morning. Something slight but…

“Do I have something in my teeth?”

Caleb started a little, he hadn’t realised Molly waking up but there he was, smiling at him sleepily, eyes half open.

“What?” he blinked, trying to gather up his train of thought.

“You’re staring,” Molly rose up, sending a tide of silk and cotton washing across the bed.

“Oh, I suppose I was,” Caleb leaned over and kissed his cheek, “Sorry, you just…you look so beautiful this morning. Especially given…”

Mollymauk snorted and lay back against his many pillows, voice gravelly from sleep in a way that only made Caleb’s heart skip again.

“Dude, I’ve been pregnant for all of a day. There is zero physical change going on over here.”

“I know what I’m talking about,” Caleb insisted, pulling closer to his husband, allowing him to rest his head on his shoulder the way he liked to do when he was still to sleepy to hold his own head up.

“Oh?” Molly murmured, smiling crookedly, “Elaborate for me?”

Caleb rested his hand on Molly’s knee, “Well…I don’t know what it is exactly but there’s just something in your smile. You look so peaceful, like you’ve finally gotten something you’ve wanted for so long. You look strong and confident and sure…it’s everything I hoped for and so much more. I already don’t know how I’m going to repay you for how happy I am right now.”

Of all the responses Caleb was expecting, he didn’t see Molly suddenly yanking the duvet right up over his head coming.

“Um…sweetling? Is everything okay?”

“Yes,” Molly mumbled, his voice muffled, “No. Yes. I don’t know.”

Caleb frowned, worrying he’d said something wrong, “I…I’m sorry, Molly, I didn’t mean to, I-I didn’t get much sleep…”

“No!” Molly yelps, looking like a child who had five minutes to put together their Halloween costume, “It’s not that. It was lovely, it was…too lovely…”

Caleb feels a sudden rush of realisation, his jaw going slack, “Wait a second. You’re hiding under the blanket because you’re blushing?You, Mollymauk Tealeaf, are _blushing?”_

“Shut up! It’s the hormones, I swear!” Molly groaned, feeling his reputation crumbling around him.

Caleb tried not to laugh as he ducked under the blanket too, chasing down Molly and pulling him into his lap, pressing kisses to his neck until his fussing turned to gentle sighs and he turned fluid in Caleb’s arms.

By the time they were done, the sun was full and proud in the sky and Molly had drifted off again in Caleb’s arms. His mind finally peaceful, he knew he could sleep too and that he probably should but he didn’t. Caleb just lay back and stroked Molly’s hair gently, eyes never leaving his face.

He would be more than happy to spend the rest of his life just like that.

**Author's Note:**

> Please come send me prompts if there's anything for any of these pairings that you want to see!


End file.
